The ten acres of land near my home are watered by drawing water from the well at home, while the fields further away are dredged from the river.
The villagers could no longer wait and went to the river to fetch water.
The already shallow river has now exposed large sections of its riverbed, much to the delight of the village's mischievous boys.
Everyone carried buckets, catching fish and collecting river clams, wishing they wouldn't go home until dark.
Jia'an and Jiaxi are sensible and have been helping with watering the fields.
Grandma Li felt sorry for her grandson, so she sent them off to play for a while.
This thrilled Jiayin. They had dozens more duck and goose eggs stored in the yard, and the family hadn't eaten fish in a long time.
Most importantly, her two older brothers are quite helpful, which allows her fishpond to get more fish fry.
Grandma Li bent over to water the plants, then stood up to scoop water, until she was dizzy from exhaustion.
At this moment, her granddaughter insisted on going to see the excitement, so she decided to give herself a break and leisurely followed behind her grandson.
Villagers who were busy carrying water to irrigate their plants would greet her when they saw her.
“Auntie, we are so envious of you. You have a cart to haul water, which saves you a lot of effort, and you have many children and grandchildren. Now you can really see the benefits.”
Old Mrs. Li waved her hand with a bitter face, "You only see this much, why don't you look at my thirty acres of land? Even if there were a dozen more people, we still couldn't irrigate it all!"
Everyone thought about it and agreed, so they got to work quickly.
Grandma Li took her grandchildren to the riverbank, and Jiaxi and Jia'an ran to catch small fish.
Jiayin secretly directed her grandmother to collect duck and goose eggs.
A pile of green-shelled duck eggs and a pile of fist-sized white goose eggs—who wouldn't love to see them? Even Old Lady Li, who was full of worries, smiled broadly.
Jia An and Jia Xi cheered as they caught quite a few small fish.
Jiayin struggled to get closer, and when her brother wasn't looking, she poured the small fish into the fishpond in the courtyard and replaced it with two large grass carp.
When Jia'an and Jiaxi turned around, they were so surprised that their mouths almost split open.
Grandma Li patted each of her grandsons, then put the duck and goose eggs into the bucket, calling out to them.
"What are you staring at? Thanks to your sister, we're having fish for dinner tonight."
Jia'an and Jiaxi kept their mouths tightly shut, as if the fish would escape if they opened them.
The two carried the buckets of water very quickly, but there were too many people on the road, and they were still seen.
Naturally, everyone was envious, so they stopped watering the fields and flocked to the riverbank to look for duck eggs and catch fish.
Unfortunately, there weren't many duck eggs, big fish, or even small fish.
That evening, the Li family steamed sorghum rice and stewed grass carp with tofu.
Jiayin took a bowl of steamed egg custard, mixed it with a few pieces of snow-white fish, and ate it happily.
The old men from the Zhao family next door also received a full earthenware pot of stewed fish.
This is a rare delicacy, and Uncle Zhao also brought out half a jar of strong liquor that he had been saving for a long time.
A few old brothers, each with half a bowl of wine, ate and drank to their hearts' content with the fish and meat.
These past few days, they haven't been idle either. They couldn't do the heavy work of carrying water, but they took on tasks such as cutting grass and watering the mules, watering the fields, chopping firewood, and sweeping the yard.
Even so, they still felt uneasy, as if they had taken advantage of the Li family.
The grain harvested last autumn was taken to the Li family's house when we were sharing a meal together.
Even if you add them all up, it's only four hundred catties, which isn't enough to feed them for several months.
Not only that, they also eat large amounts of meat and fish every few days.
Especially with this weather, what if there's no harvest in the fall? Are we supposed to keep the Li family supporting them?
Uncle Zhao was the first to speak.
"Otherwise, let's call the village chief and go talk to the Li family again. Let's take the land back this year. That way, even if there's no harvest in the fall, the Li family won't have to support us for nothing. Otherwise, the Li family will be really at a disadvantage."
"Yes, the Li family is shrewd. Even if there's no harvest in the fields, they won't let us go hungry; we'll just have to buy grain with silver."
"That would cost a fortune! No matter how wealthy a family is, there's no way they could support a bunch of old codgers like us."
The other old men echoed this sentiment.
They were also action-oriented; after dinner, emboldened by alcohol, they called the village chief over.
The village chief and the Li family were both a little confused, wondering what the old men wanted.
As a result, when the old men mentioned taking the land back, the Li family immediately understood their plan.
This is a drought; I'm afraid there will be no harvest in the fall.
Grandma Li shook her head immediately.
"No, my old brothers, think about it. If there's a bumper harvest in the autumn, besides your food supplies, there will be plenty left over. If we sell the produce and get the money, will you come and ask for it back?"
"Of course not!" The old men all stared wide-eyed.
"Is that something a human being would do? Your family works hard on the land, so of course the money is yours. We agreed beforehand that we only want food. As long as we don't go hungry, that's enough, we don't want anything else!"
"That's it." Grandma Li smiled as she wiped away her granddaughter's overflowing drool.
"Our family farms, and whether the harvest is good or bad is our family's business. It's not like we'll provide for you only when we make money, and then ignore you when we don't. That's not how it works!"
"This is different; it looks like we'll get no harvest this year!"
The old men got anxious. "Your family probably needs to buy grain, and you're still supporting us old folks? That's too much of a loss."
"It's worth it, Uncle Zhao," Li Lao Er quickly reassured him.
"Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure; other families can't even dream of having one. Besides, when the fourth brother came back from the south, he mentioned the severe drought, so our family was prepared."
Grandma Li nodded, "Yes, you can rest assured."
The mother and daughter didn't speak very clearly, but the village chief and the old men all understood.
The group breathed a sigh of relief; the Li family had stockpiled grain in advance in case of a complete crop failure.
The village chief thought for a moment and then said.
"Let's leave it at that for now. If you really have difficulties in the fall, you must tell your family."
"Of course, we're all family, we eat from the same pot. If we're hungry, we eat together; if we're hungry, we'll find a way together."
The old lady's words "family" brought smiles to the faces of the old men.
They looked at each other and then stopped insisting on taking back the land.
From now on, they will leave the rest of their lives, which will be more than ten years, to the Li family.
When things really get tough, they'd risk their lives to protect the Li family. They're all family...
The village chief, concerned for each household, went out to visit everyone after saying goodbye, urging those who didn't have much food stored at home to hurry up and go to the city to buy more, and urging those who were lazy and waiting for rain to hurry up and fetch water to save their crops.
At this point, you can't rely on anyone but yourself.
The next day, someone actually went to the city to sell grain, but returned empty-handed!
The price of grain in the city is half again as high as it was half a month ago.
Everyone felt a tightness in their chest as they listened, their bad premonition growing stronger.
Suddenly, more and more people started going up the mountain.
Anything green that could be eaten without dying from poisoning was picked and taken back.
We can eat something to tide us over and save our food, which will allow us to last a few more days.
An elderly man was seen kowtowing and praying incessantly in the fields, begging God to send rain and save the crops.
Unfortunately, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, without a single cloud.
On the contrary, the wells of the families living on higher ground in the village have run out of water.
One, two, three...
Two weeks later, most of the wells in the village were dry.
The mountains and forests, viewed from afar, also appeared somewhat withered and yellowish.
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